


Of broken bones and happiness

by inflowers



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Broken Bones, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Love, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-14 07:10:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18047927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inflowers/pseuds/inflowers
Summary: Levi does not like camping.





	Of broken bones and happiness

Levi does not like this. He likes to be indoors. He likes the comforts of home. He likes not having sticks in his back, and not having to dig a hole to go to the bathroom in, and not being bitten by insects.

But Levi does like Nico. Loves him, in fact. And since he told Nico of that fact, loudly, in front of people trying to get to their cars after a long shift, he has committed himself to doing things that Nico likes to do. Even if Levi does not like doing them. Which is how he finds himself here, camping. In an actual tent. Sleeping in an actual sleeping bag.

He had resisted it at first, when Nico suggested it. Had said, “maybe we could go away to a hotel for the weekend instead.” But Nico loves camping, and Levi loves Nico. So they’re camping.

“Okay, just so you know, I do not like this.” Levi grumbles, shifting and trying to get comfortable on the ground. “I do not like this at all.”

“Not even a little bit?” Nico challenges, pulling Levi closer to him in their sleeping bag and kissing him gently.

“Maybe a little.” Levi finally agrees when they break apart. “But I really need to pee, and it’s so cold, and there are definitely … _creatures_ out there that can probably smell my fear.”

“Do you need me to protect you?” Nico asks, yawning. “I’ll come with you.”

“No,” Levi says, climbing out of the sleeping bag. “You stay here. Keep my spot warm.”

Levi grabs his phone and switches on the flashlight, illuminating the tent. He finds his shoes by the entrance and unzips the flap, stepping out into the cool Washington night. Breathing deeply, he stretches his back (because sleeping on the ground _cannot_ be good for your spine), and starts walking into the woods. Just far enough from their food, he thinks. Don’t piss where you eat.

Suddenly, a noise startles him. Levi spins around quickly to see where it’s coming from, and his foot gives out from underneath him. He feels himself falling and he hits the ground – the cold, wet, hard ground. He’s on his back, staring up and he can tell that he’s fallen into some kind of hole – he can see the trees where he had been standing, but they’re much further away than they should be if he was just on the ground. It takes a second for him to pull himself together, and he tries to get up but he knows immediately that something is wrong. He can’t move one of his legs, and every time he tries there’s a searing pain that shoots through it.

Levi hates camping. But he hates it even more now.

“Nico?” Levi calls out, but he can’t work out which direction the campsite is in. He can’t remember how far away it is; his head feels fuzzy from the impact and the pain. Levi suddenly remembers he has his phone in his pocket, and he manages to wriggle enough to pull it out.  
  
It rings six times before Nico answers, groggy with sleep. “Yeah, this is Nico.”

“Nico,” Levi whimpers quietly. He doesn’t want to cry but goddamn it, he’s in so much pain and he’s suddenly realised how alone and scared he is. “Nico I fell into a hole.”

“What?”

“I went to pee and I fell into a hole. I’ve hurt my leg. I need you to help me." 

“Okay, just calm down.” Levi can hear Nico rustling, and assumes he must be pulling on some clothes and shoes. “Where are you?”

“I don’t know. I walked like a hundred feet away from the food.”

“Why did you go so far?” Nico asks, as he starts looking. 

“I didn’t want to pee where we eat.” Levi responds, because that should be obvious. “Nico, I’m scared.”

“It’s okay, babe. I’m looking for you now. Can you call out to me?”

Levi does as he’s asked, and yells as loudly as he can. 

“Okay,” Nico says after a second of silence. “I heard that. I think I know which direction you are. Just stay on the phone with me okay?”

“This is why my mom didn’t want me to come camping. She’s going to be insufferable when I get home.”

Nico laughs, despite the circumstances. He’s shining his own flashlight on the ground, and finally thinks he can see a clearing in the distance with a large hole. He runs over and carefully peers in, his heart in his throat when he sees Levi lying in the mud.

“Hey handsome,” Nico says to get Levi’s attention. “You need a hand?”

“Nico.” Levi sighs, never happier to see his boyfriend’s chiselled jaw and deep eyes. “Thank god you found me.”

“I was always going to find you. I just need to work out how to get you out. Can you walk?”  
  
“I think my leg is broken.”

“You’re kidding.” Nico frowns, trying to work out how he’s going to get Levi out. In the darkness, he can’t quite see how deep the hole is or how wide it is. “How far down are you, do you think?”

“I don’t know,” Levi cranes his neck to look at Nico. “I don’t think it’s that deep? I think I could get out if my leg wasn’t broken. 

“Okay, I’m going to climb down.” 

“What if you get stuck?” Levi asks, panicking. “We can’t both die here.”

“Nowhere else I’d rather be, babe.” Nico smiles, and Levi suddenly feels like the pain is a little less than it was before.

Nico surveys the hole, and decides that it’s not so deep that they’ll both be stuck, but just in case he makes sure he still has his phone in his pocket. He grabs a few nearby sticks, and sits on the edge of the hole, sliding down into it. He’s relieved to realise that it doesn’t take long before he hits the earth. When he stands up, the ground above him is only a few inches above his head.

“Are you okay?” Levi asks, and Nico grabs hold of him and runs a hand through his hair.

“I’m fine. Are you?”

“It really hurts.” Levi says quietly, not wanting to make eye contact. He loves Nico, but he doesn’t want Nico to see him like this – this vulnerable, this scared, this open. “Nico.” Levi chokes out, and suddenly he can’t stop himself from crying.

“Oh, Levi.” Nico speaks softly, running his hands through Levi’s hair to comfort him. He doesn’t say anything else, because he’s trying to work out how to get them both out of the hole. He can’t fix Levi until he can see what’s going on, and he can’t do that out here.

“Okay, we need to stabilise your leg.” Nico says after a minute, and he grabs one of the sticks he took. He looks around before deciding he only has one option, and takes off his t-shirt, tearing it into strips.

Even in as much pain as he’s in, Levi is momentarily stunned at how god damn manly and sexy Nico is right now, shirtless and tearing his own clothing to shreds.

Nico uses the stick and the shreds of t-shirt to splint Levi’s leg, gently lifting it and wrapping the shirt around it to keep the stick in place. Levi cries quietly, gritting his teeth with every movement. He’s being as gentle as he can be, but Nico knows it must hurt.

“It’s okay, you know. You can cry.” Nico ties the final strip around Levi’s leg, securing the splint in place.

“How am I going to get out of here?” Levi asks, looking around them both. “I don’t think I can walk.”

“You’re not walking anywhere,” Nico agrees. “Listen, this is going to hurt, but I’m going to lift you out.”

“What? No, Nico, you can’t do that. You’ll hurt yourself." 

“How much do you think you weigh?”

“You’d have to lift me over your head. That’s too dangerous. Let’s just call for help.”

“Even if we called for help, we’d have to explain where we are. It could be hours before anyone finds us. We need to look at your leg. You have to get an x-ray.” Nico leans over to pick Levi up, but pauses before he does. “Do you trust me?”

“More than anyone else.” Levi responds, looking at Nico like he’s a hero, because to Levi he absolutely is.  
  
“I won’t drop you.” Nico swears, and he gently picks Levi up from the dirt. Levi shrieks with the sudden movement, pain surging through his entire body. When Nico has a firm grip, he musters all of his strength and pushes Levi upwards and forwards. Levi rolls onto the ground, crying out in pain as his leg moves with him. He comes to a stop, again staring up at the trees but mercifully; they’re much closer this time. He made it out.

“Nico?” Levi turns his head just in time to see Nico: shirtless, sweaty and dirty, climbing out of the hole. He makes a mental note to file the image away for later, when he doesn’t feel like his body is on fire.

“Okay.” Nico says breathlessly, “I need to pick you up again. Are you okay? Are you cold?” He touches his hand to the back of Levi’s neck, and notices how clammy Levi’s skin is. “Just hold on, babe. I’m going to get us out of here.”

Nico picks Levi up again, and Levi instinctively curls inwards, his arms wrapped around Nico’s neck and his leg stretched out, splinted. Nico moves quickly but carefully, trying to avoid bumping Levi’s leg or causing it to move. Nico can feel Levi’s hot tears against his bare chest, and it motivates him to move faster.

Finally, they make it back to the tent. The car was parked right near their campsite, and Nico moved towards it.

“Where are the keys?” He wonders out loud, trying to remember where they had put them.

“In the tent, in our bag.” Levi responds, still gritting his teeth. “If you put me down here, I can crawl towards the car. I’m sure it’s not broken, maybe it’s just a sprain. I’ll be fine.”

“You’re crazy,” Nico says, “I’m going to put you down right here for two seconds while I grab what we need.”

“What about the tent? Shouldn’t we pack it up?”

“I don’t care about the tent, Levi. I care about you.”

Nico finds their bags, wallets and keys in the tent before returning to the car, thankfully having found a shirt. He unlocks the car, and opens the backseat.  
  
“Alright, come here.” Nico lifts Levi into the backseat, carefully laying his leg out. He clips Levi’s seatbelt, before closing the door and climbing into the front seat. “It’s a little over an hour to Grey Sloan. But there might be somewhere closer. I’ll find out.”

“Nico,” Levi gets his attention. “If I need surgery, I want Link. If I can’t have you, I want Link. Take me to our hospital.”

“But it’s so far away - ” Nico starts to argue, but he knows that Levi is right. If he needs surgery, then he needs the best. And Link is the best. “Okay, but you tell me if the pain gets too much, alright? And take these.” Nico hands him ibuprofen that he found in the bottom of his satchel. “It isn’t much, but it might take the edge off a little.”

The drive goes smoothly once they’re on the highway, and Levi lets Nico fuss over him, checking every five minutes whether he’s okay, whether they need to stop, what he can do to make Levi feel better. There isn’t anything, really. He feels like his leg is about to drop off, but listening to Nico talk and tell him stupid stories about his internship and residency does help. A little.

When they’re 20 minutes away, Nico calls Link.

“Yo, Nico.” Link answers, and Nico has never been more grateful to hear his voice. “How’s the camping? Bit late for a social call, isn’t it?”

“Link.” Nico says, and Link can immediately hear the stress in his voice.

“What’s wrong, what’s happened.”

“It’s Levi. He’s hurt his leg. I can’t tell, but I think it’s broken.”

“Okay, man.” Link is suddenly all business. “Where are you? Bring him in." 

“We’re on our way. About fifteen minutes out. Are you there?”

“Yeah, I was just finishing up. I’ll meet you in the pit.”

Levi pipes up from the backseat, having listened to the conversation. “Oh, Dr Lincoln if you were on your way home, you can go home. I can wait until tomorrow. It might not even be broken, you know. I'm sure it's nothing.” Just as he finishes, Nico drives over a pothole and Levi screams in pain.

“Doesn’t sound like nothing, Schmitt. I’m not going anywhere. See you in 15.”

“Thanks, Link.” Nico says quietly, focusing on the road in front of him.

“No sweat, Nic. And drive carefully.”

Fifteen minutes later, Nico pulls into the ambulance bay. He knows he’s not supposed to, but he cares so little about the rules right now, he’d do anything if it meant Levi’s face wouldn’t be all screwed up in pain the way it is now. Link is standing at the doors, and he rushes towards the car, pulling open the rear doors and dragging Levi onto a gurney.

“Hey, Schmitty.” Link says, smiling brightly at the young resident. “What have you gone and done?”

“Hi Dr Lincoln. See, I needed to pee so I walked away from the campsite and I fell into a hole and I think I broke my leg but I don’t know.” Levi is rambling, he’s worried that he’s starting to lose his mind with pain, but before he knows it there’s an IV in his arm and he can feel the morphine start slipping into his veins. And all of a sudden, Levi feels great.

“Dr Lincoln,” He says when Link reappears after speaking with Nico. “Dr Lincoln, have you met my boyfriend?”

Link laughs gently, shaking his head. Morphine, it’s a hell of a drug.

“Yeah, Schmitt. I’ve met him. We’re taking you up to x-ray now, okay? You feeling better?”

“I feel great. Dr Lincoln, my boyfriend is so hot. Like, he’s  _so_ hot.”

“You think so?” Link smiles, pulling up the railing on Levi’s bed and motioning for the nurses to take him. “I’ve never seen it, personally.”

“No, Dr Lincoln, you don’t understand. He’s _so_ _hot_. When he doesn’t have a shirt on and he’s on top of you and kissing you he’s just so hot.”

“Alright, Schmitt. I’ll take your word for it.” He pats Levi on the arm as the door to the elevator opens. “You going with him?” Link motions for Nico, who is finishing the last of the paperwork for Levi’s admission. “Keep an eye on him, he’s going to say something to freak out one of the nurses.”

Nico steps into the elevator and grabs Levi’s hand, watching as the numbers climb towards the radiology floor.

“Hey – Nico,” Levi gets his attention, whispering conspiratorially. “I have to tell you something.”

“Hmm? What’s that?” Nico is distracted, thinking about what the x-ray will say. He’s imagining complex surgeries that he won’t be part of, and is internally screaming with how much he wants to be able to fix whatever is wrong with Levi. Not surgically, just magically.

“I have to tell you that I think you’re _so hot_.” And Nico laughs, a deep belly laugh that lets out the tension he’s held in him since Levi first told him that he was hurt. “No, Nico _listen_. You aren’t listening to me.” Levi insists, his eyes making it very clear that he’s as high as anything.

“I’m listening, babe.”

“You are so hot. When you climbed out of that hole, without a shirt, I mean – I know my leg is broken, but I wanted to climb you like a tree. You’re just _so_ hot.”

The nurse standing at the foot of Levi’s bed giggles slightly and blushes, but has the decency not to stare at them. It’s probably not the most outrageous thing she’s heard from a patient.

“Okay. Let’s just get you better, and then we can talk about you climbing me like a tree, alright?”

“You better be prepared, Dr Kim.” Levi slurs gently, “Because as soon as my leg feels better, I’m going to – well, I don’t know what I’m going to do, but it’s going to _rock your world._ ”

“It always does.” Nico laughs softly, stroking Levi’s hairline and decidedly not making eye contact with the nurse.

Three hours later, and Nico is pacing back and forth outside OR 3. He doesn’t want to be in the gallery. He wouldn’t be able to watch Levi on the table, even though he knows Link knows exactly what he’s doing and would never let anything happen to him.

It takes another twenty minutes before the doors open and Link emerges, pulling off his surgical gown.

“Everything is fine. He’s fine.” Link greets him, pulling him in for a quick bro-hug. “Had to use a few pins, but with a bit of rehab and some time off his feet, he’s going to be okay.”

“Thank you so much.” Nico says quietly, the weight of the evening finally settling on him. “I just – I couldn’t handle it if something happened to him, you know?”

“I’m glad you found each other, Nic. You deserve to be happy.”

“He makes me so happy.”

“Does he know that?” Link asks, scrubbing Levi’s name off the OR board.

“I hope so.”

“Tell him. Just in case, you know?” Link fist bumps Nico and walks towards the attending’s lounge, finally ready to take off after a night that was longer than he had anticipated.

A few hours later, when Levi had woken up and was settled in his room on the ortho floor, Nico slides open the glass door and walks in.

“Hey,” Levi says, smiling brightly at Nico. “Are you okay?”

“I’m not the one who just had surgery.” Nico responds, confused.

“I know. But I still want to know if you’re okay.”

“I was scared,” Nico admits, sitting on the bed next to Levi’s uninjured leg. “When I couldn’t tell what was wrong with you, I was scared. The idea of losing you really scares me.”

“Me too.” Levi echoes, “I am constantly in fear of what could happen to you. You could get hit by a bus. You could be shot by a disgruntled patient. You could be eaten by a bear.”

“The last one seems pretty unlikely,” Nico laughs, but appreciates the sentiment. “I guess this is love, huh?”

“I guess so.”

“Hey, Link wanted me to tell you something - ”

“Oh god, did I say something before surgery? I was high, I swear whatever I said I didn’t mean it.”

“Oh, don’t worry. You said plenty of stuff.” Nico teases him, “But he wanted me to make sure that you know how happy you make me.”

“Really?” Levi smiles sleepily, his hand reaching out to grab Nico’s. He rubs a thumb against the back of Nico’s soft skin; comforted by the steady pulse he can feel under his fingertips.

“Really.” Nico agrees, gently laying down in the bed next to Levi, who gladly makes space for him. They both know that Levi’s road to recovery will be long and painful, but they’re in this one together.

Levi doesn’t like camping, and for good reason.

But Levi _absolutely_ loves Nico.


End file.
